Follow progress on the PRISM Quartet’s groundbreaking “Discovery” project, Breath Beneath, as we investigate the intersection of music, interactive technology, and durational visual art with new works from Mark DeChiazza/Dan Trueman and Bill Morrison/Julia Wolfe/Ryan Holsopple.

To start things off, check out this walk-through of the Drexel University’s URBN Center Annex with Paul Jerue, Production Manager/Technical Director. URBN Annex will serve as a venue for the Philly program, co-presented by Drexel’s Westphal College of Media Arts & Design.

We welcome comments and feedback – let us know what you think!

The Philadelphia performance of Breath Beneath is co-presented by PRISM Quartet, Inc. and Drexel University Westphal College of Media Arts & Design on September 14th as part of the 2017 Fringe Festival.

The New York City performance of Breath Beneath is co-presented by PRISM Quartet, Inc. and 3-Legged Dog on September 15th.

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We’re happy to share an excerpt from the “Preamble” to Dan Trueman and Mark DeChiazza’s “Waveguide Model I.” Dan writes:

“Waveguide Model I” is collective decision-making piece created for the PRISM Quartet, inspired by emergent phenomena like flocking and schooling as well as pieces like Riley’s “In C,” Andriessen’s “Workers Union,” many of Cornelius Cardew’s works (“The Great Learning”), and my own “Clapping Machine Music Variations” and “There Might Be Others,” all of which are participatory pieces in some fashion. The piece was composed with the broader aim that meaningful interaction and feedback between the players and other elements, visuals in particular, might be possible.

A waveguide, as its name implies, is something that guides the movement of waves; a canal is one example, fibre optic cable is another. In music, strings are waveguides, as are tubes, which guide waves to oscillate at particular frequencies (the saxophone itself is a kind of complex waveguide!). Flocks and schools are also, in a way, examples of waveguides, where perturbations flow through the flock in specific, controlled ways. Most broadly, a waveguide is a set of constraints for how material or objects might move or flow, shaping but not fully determining what sorts of patterns might emerge.

In this piece, the members of the ensemble are elements within a kind of compositional/musical
waveguide, following a set of specific constraints, but making choices that shape the emergent music. As such, there is no conventional “score,” but rather a set of instructions (the “model”) and examples.

WORLD PREMIERE OF COLOR THEORY 2.0. In an unprecedented collaboration, @Tyshawn Sorey, @Susie Ibarra Music, and the PRISM Quartet join forces in a program exploring musical color by combining saxes and percussion with newly commissioned works by Ibarra, Sorey, Elizabeth Hoffman, and Max Chung. Plus music by Robert Capanna. Free admission to concerts on June 2 and 4 at the Free Library of Philadelphia. Ticketed concert on June 3 in NYC at Christ & St. Steven's Church. Complete info at www.prismquartet.com/concerts/color-theory-2-0/... See MoreSee Less

Friends - as we approach the end of our fiscal year, please consider supporting PRISM's work documenting new music on our label, XAS Records, distributed worldwide by Naxos of America. Click below to learn about our exciting releases for 2018 and 2019, including two EPs and three albums featuring premiere recordings of 16 new works! ... See MoreSee Less

The PRISM Quartet was founded in 1984 by four young saxophonists who were determined to create a new...

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Last Saturday, PRISM's Matthew Levy and Taimur Sullivan, and guest artist Susie Ibarra read sketches of works by participants of the Quartet's Unlocking Your Inner Composer program at the Free Library of Philadelphia.

The full PRISM Quartet and Susie read complete pieces by participants Workshop Series 1 and 2 on May 13th - free and open to the public! Info below, and we hope to see you there!